diseased bone

Zhongyang, the imperial city of Jinting.

Zhou Lanmu knelt under the steps of the Chaoming Palace. There was no one around him. The servants and maids were all sent down. Only the incense burner in the palace exuded the smell of sandalwood.He closed his eyes and sniffed the smell absentmindedly, until there was the slight sound of cloth rubbing against the door of the hall, then he bowed respectfully and said, "Greetings, Eldest Young Master."

Qi Lang was not in a hurry to get him up, he bypassed him first, walked to the finely carved incense burner in the hall, took a deep sniff for a while before saying: "Does the Fourth Young Master also like the smell of sandalwood, I was lost in thought just now. "

Zhou Lanmu also lowered his head and didn't get up: "I was just thinking, why does the eldest son burn sandalwood in the Chaoming Palace? Is there any special purpose?"

"Sandalwood meditation is the favorite spice of an old friend of mine." Qi Lang looked at the censer, and it took him a long time to realize, "Ah, I was so busy talking, I forgot to get the Fourth Young Master to get up. I heard that the Fourth Young Master was ill a while ago I'm not feeling well, but is it more important?"

Zhou Lanmu straightened up, stood up slowly, and said gently, "Young Master Lao is concerned, it doesn't matter anymore."

Qi Lang stretched out his hand and gave a vacant support: "Fourth Young Master, sit down."

Zhou Lanmu sat down on the chair next to him, lowered his head and said, "Yesterday I took the parrot guards to search the general's mansion, and sure enough, I found some... the correspondence between General Xiao Chu and Southeast on weekdays. He seems to have planned this matter already." It will take many years before there is so much evidence."

"Fortunately, the Fourth Young Master was vigilant, detected his thoughts in time, and arrested him again." Qi Lang raised his hands and said with a headache, "I have been suspicious of him since the Dingfeng Rebellion, but he pretended to be too good on the surface. It's really hard to find any flaws - if it wasn't for the words that the Fourth Young Master said to me in prison that day, I'm afraid I would have believed Chu Shao."

"It's not because the eldest son is benevolent and willing to give me a chance." Zhou Lanmu cupped his hands at him, "It's hard to repay a life-saving grace, so I have to do my best to do something for the eldest son."

"Speaking of which, you also have the ability," Qi Lang said, "it's really not easy for him to trust you so much and find out these evidences."

Zhou Lanmu even said that he didn't dare, and after a while, his eyes turned, and finally he couldn't hold back and asked: "General Xiao Chu respects the eldest son very much in front of the world, if the eldest son hadn't mentioned it once, I would have thought he was sincerely loyal to you Why did you doubt him in the first place?"

Qi Lang took a deep look at him, but didn't hide anything: "The Fourth Young Master didn't know something. Before the Dingfeng Rebellion, Chu Shao had a very close relationship with... the abolished prince."

Zhou Lanmu's eyelids twitched: "Little General Chu grew up with the deposed prince and has a close relationship with him. This is known to all the world."

"No, what they know is only on the surface," Qi Lang sneered, "there is more than brotherly love between the two of them."

He stood up suddenly, and took two steps with his hands behind his back: "The two broke up before the Dingfeng Rebellion. Although Chu Shao joined me and Duke Wei because of the hatred of his father, I never completely trusted him in my heart. Fourth son I don't know what Chu Shao looked like when the crown prince was abolished and committed suicide in prison."

Zhou Lanmu lowered his eyes and repeated: "What... what does it look like?"

"He's a lunatic," Qi Lang said coldly, "Obviously he killed the person himself, but he became so crazy that he dragged the corpse and refused to let go, and even killed several parrot guards... It's been a long time It took half a day before they found an opportunity to murder Chu Shao and burn the body."

Zhou Lanmu pinched several red marks on his palm, but his face remained calm: "Then why did he serve you allegiance later?"

"Later, he went to the palace overnight to seek my apology, and he said calmly that he had such a temper since he was a child, and he couldn't control it for a while," Qi Lang fiddled with the jade wrench in his hand, and said slowly, "If he hadn't killed the prince's remnants After selling it all over, and the things that have been explained are done well, Duke Wei and I may not be willing to keep him. Although killing this person will cause panic in the Xuanjian camp, it is better than leaving future troubles."

Zhou Lanmu said in a low voice: "It's the benevolence of the eldest son to save his life."

"Seeing him like that, it's really hard to believe that he has nothing to do with the death of the abolished prince." Qi Lang didn't seem to hear what he was saying, and said in a daze, "I have been suspicious for so many years, and today I finally let the fourth son Discovering his flaws, the Fourth Young Master really did a great job."

He turned around and asked tentatively, "What reward does Fourth Young Master want from me?"

Zhou Lanmu raised his eyes to look at him, stood up suddenly, and bowed to him: "The criminal law in Dian Xing Temple was horrific back then. Without your protection, how could I have survived to this day! I just do what I can for the eldest son. Dare to ask for a reward."

"What are you doing, get up," Qi Lang stretched out his hand to help him, "Now that things are going on, are you still afraid that I won't believe you?"

Zhou Lanmu breathed a sigh of relief, but still knelt and did not get up: "There is no need to mention the reward, but I have two things that I would like to ask the eldest son to agree to."

Qi Lang said: "It's okay for you to say."

"First of all, I want to continue to investigate Master Qin Mu." Zhou Lanmu knelt on the ground, the relief on the gold bricks made his knees hurt, "I always feel that Master Qin's attack may not be so simple, Master Qin is your confidant , now only Shen Amber is available in the Parrot Guard, which must be in line with others' wishes."

"Qin Mu is cultivating in the mansion, he is seriously injured, if you can ask anything, just go." Qi Lang didn't think about it, "What about the second one?"

"The second thing... please allow me, the eldest son, to visit General Chu in the Dianxing Temple." Zhou Lanmu's face remained unchanged, "I spent time with him day and night along the way, and I have many questions. If I can ask them clearly, I will announce this to the world in the future." It is also more convincing when people commit crimes."

Qi Lang didn't answer.

He stared closely at the young man in white kneeling in front of him, his expression was unclear, he stroked his chin and opened his mouth after a long time, but he did not reply to his request, but asked in a wrong way: "Fourth young master... when you were in Zongzhou At that time, have you thought about what will happen after returning to Zhongyang?"

Zhou Lanmu quickly replied: "At the time when I was young, I just wanted to eat, drink and have fun. How could I think about the future? I never thought that I would go back to Zhongyang again, let alone..."

"You and I are members of the same family. I have heard about your reputation for a long time, but I have never thought about it..." He paused, raised his head, and said sincerely, "One day, I will kneel down to you."

What he said was a little presumptuous and rude.

But it's very honest.

With a thought, Qi Lang bowed to help him up again without caring, and said with a hearty smile: "Excellent, Fourth Young Master is willing to tell me the truth, Chu Shao's side...you can ask."

Zhou Lanmu stood up, answered a few words respectfully, and then left.

tick.

tick.

The five cells numbered "Zhaoming" in Dianxing Temple are the emperor's Zhao prison.On weekdays, these places would only detain the emperor's relatives, or some secret sinners who were not known to the world.

The five cells were empty, and only one of them was occupied. There were no windows in Zhaoming Prison, and only a thin row of vents allowed some light to leak in.In addition, there is only one candle left on the table, and every four hours, the jailer will replace it.

It seems that Zhongyang also had snowfall not long ago, and the melted snow water trickled down the small air vent, adding some faint sounds to the confined space.

Chu Shao sat on the bed, counting the sound of falling water droplets boredly.

The food delivered was on the table, he couldn't eat tonight, it was already freezing cold.

When he was first locked in, he was still at a loss, but later he got used to it a lot.Chu Shao lowered his eyes and looked at the wall beside him. The wall was extremely cold, with some dark red blood stains that did not fade.

He put his face on those bloodstains, and he felt very peaceful in his heart.

Until I heard the rustling of straw being trampled in my ears.

Chu Shao didn't open his eyes. Hearing that the attendants dismissed the attendants, he closed the door, and patiently lit a new candle on the table before sitting down: "Little General Chu, you are safe and sound, how are you doing these days?" ?”

"Everything is fine," Chu Shao felt a cold numbness coming from the side of his face, "There is really no need to work hard for the fourth son to come to see me again, you must have found a lot of evidence in my house, letters, or tokens?"

"The letter about your collusion with King Ping," Zhou Lanmu said in a flat tone. He had ordered someone to put the letter in the Chushao Mansion in advance. "These things alone are enough to convict you, but I still want to come after thinking about it." See you."

He showed a peaceful smile: "I haven't seen you for a few days, doesn't the general miss me?"

Chu Shao still closed his eyes and didn't want to look at him, so he replied casually: "I think, thinking of not thinking about tea and rice, worrying and thinking - is the fourth son satisfied?"

His tone was harsh, it must be on purpose, Zhou Lanmu frowned slightly, took something out of his arms and threw it to him: "Here, I see you are going to die, I have a thought for you."

What he threw was an ordinary stone that was placed on the ancient shelf in Chu Shao's secret room. He didn't remember what the stone was, but it might be something from his past that was placed on the shelf.

Chu Shao opened his eyes suddenly, caught the stone, and stared at it for a long time: "This is... the stone he blocked for me on the night of Shangyuan."

He held the stone tightly in his palm, and chuckled lightly: "It's indeed my thought, thank you, Fourth Young Master."

"Don't you hate me?" Zhou Lanmu looked at his expression and asked lightly, "You don't hate me for plotting against you, stabbing you in the right shoulder, and killing you?"

Chu Shao only held onto that stone, nodded, and shook his head again: "Speaking of which, I have to thank you, if I hadn't fallen into this place myself, how would I know... the suffering my old man suffered back then?"

He opened his eyes and looked at Zhou Lanmu, although he was smiling, Zhou Lanmu could see the indifference in his eyes: "The only reason I hate you is that I can't finish what I want to do. "

Zhou Lanmu quickly asked, "What do you want to do?"

Chu Shao completely ignored him: "But without me, there would be other people doing it, so it's a good thing to think about it."

Zhou Lanmu looked at his expression, and suddenly said: "I know that there is a second floor in the secret room in your mansion, so what's in the secret room?"

Chu Shao still said to himself: "Speaking of which, you really did not wrong me by arresting me. If I don't die, I will definitely kill the eldest son you rely on one day."

What does he mean by this... Could it be that he is not just nostalgic all these years, but really wants to rebel?

Zhou Lanmu was taken aback by this thought, subconsciously stood up and took a few steps back.

Chu Shao finally shifted his gaze to him. I don't know if it was his illusion, but he actually felt that Chu Shao's eyes had a hint of compassion: "Heng Shu...you don't have an easy life, and you are willing to do anything to save your life. Doesn’t it feel good? If you come to pay homage to me someday with conscience, just bring a crabapple.”

After saying that, he turned around and ignored Zhou Lanmu.Zhou Lanmu stood for a while, then closed the door silently.

When he left the Dianxing Temple, Lu Yangchun greeted him, seeing his complexion, he asked worriedly: "My lord, what's wrong with you?"

Zhou Lanmu glanced at him blankly, then suddenly gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "Check, even if you tear down the wall of the general's mansion, you have to find out what's in that secret room. I want to know, what exactly is he going to do?" What!"

The author has something to say: Happy New Year Duck! !

Update at [-] o'clock in the evening on the second day, thank you for your support